“We don’t know what caused it to go across the site. Nothing went across (National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration) weather radio or our site. Others may have picked up on it,” said Derric Weitlich, a meteorologist with the National Weather Service in Melbourne.

“Of course you don’t want a test going out as an alert. We started hearing about it from some of our managers.”

The false alert didn’t create as much panic as last month’s bogus ballistic missile warning in Hawaii. The state employee who sent the alert was fired.

Also last month, a malfunction triggered sirens at a North Carolina nuclear power plant.

As a precaution, the Tsunami Warning Center periodically issues tests as part of an alerting system for residents living along the seaboard.

J.D. Gallop of FLORIDA TODAY and The Associated Press contributed to this report.

Maureen Kenyon is TCPalm's trends reporter, keeping Treasure Coast residents updated on hot topics and happenings. Do you have a story to tell? Want to start a conversation? Send an email to maureen.kenyon@tcpalm.com, call 772-221-4249 or follow her on Twitter @_MaureenKenyon_.